Almost a year ago, as one of the HAIL social events, we had a picnic in the Phoenix Park. We had a kick about and decided we would start a football team! The team consisted of two support workers also two peer support workers. After a couple of training sessions in the park, the numbers started to grow. We almost had a full team in the first three months and because of this, we decided to find a training ground and decided on the Inspire Fitness Centre in Cabra. We started to train a couple of months ago and used the outdoor pitch which is astro five or seven aside. Our training regime starts with a warmup of exercises and soccer drills then we have a game for forty minutes - an hour in total. We use the indoor pitch in the cold weather which is also a good pitch to play on. More...

From June until December of 2017 HAIL employed Claire Considine, an Occupational Therapist to work with both HAIL tenants and clients living in other forms of accommodation. Occupational therapy is a profession which enables individuals with mental health problems to learn, re-learn and develop skills needed to live life to the fullest. It has been found to significantly impact on an individual's ability to engage in daily life activities that are meaningful and lead to productive daily routines (AOTA, 2012). Occupational Therapists working in mental health provide a variety of interventions including: evaluating and adapting the environment, working with clients to develop a balanced routine, enabling clients to engage in social or leisure activities, facilitating the development of skills of independent living, managing one’s home, managing one’s time, supporting clients to engage in training or employment or working on anxiety/stress management. As each individual has different needs, strengths and challenges, assessment is client-centred and interventions are tailored specifically to the individual. More...